1st Guards Mechanized Corps (Soviet Union)
The 1st Guards 'Vienna' Order of Lenin Order of Kutuzov Mechanized Corps was a Red Army armoured formation that saw service during World War II on the Eastern Front. After the war it continued to serve with Soviet occupation forces in Central Europe. It was originally the 1st Guards Rifle Division. The unit had approximately the same size and combat power as an early-war Wehrmacht Panzer Division, or a British Armoured Division had during World War II. It was under the command of General Lieutenant Russiyanov, and gained the honorifics "Vienna, Voronezh". In its final form, it was designated the 137th Military Base and was withdrawn from Vaziani in Georgia and disbanded in the early 1990s. Formation 1st Guards Mechanized Corps was formed in November 1942 in the Tambov region during the re-establishment of the Mechanized Corps as a formation in the Red Army. It was then assigned to Southwestern Front which was under the command of General N.F. Vatutin to participate in the encirclement of German Army Group A in Operation Saturn, which was undertaken during the Battle of Stalingrad. The corps consisted of the following units: Combat Units * 1st Guards Mechanized Rifle Brigade * 2nd Guards Mechanized Rifle Brigade * 3rd Guards Mechanized Rifle Brigade * 16, 17, 18, 19 Guards Tank Regiments (combined into the 9th Guards Tank Brigade by 1945) * 116th Guards Artillery Regiment * 1504th Guards Anti-Tank Regiment * 267th Mortar Regiment * 407th Guards Mortar Battalion Support Units * 54th Guards Signalling Battalion * Corps Train Changes to unit organization *The 116th Guards Artillery Regiment had been replaced by the 382nd Guards, 1453rd, and 1821st self-propelled gun regiments by 1945. *The 1504th Guards Anti-Tank Regiment was no longer with the corps in 1945. *The 11th Guards Motorcycle Battalion and 1699th Anti-Aircraft Regiment had been added to the corps by 1945. Depending on the specific tasks allotted to the Corps, units from the STAVKA Reserve could be added to help it achieve its mission. When the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps returned to the front in January 1945, its tank formations were completely equipped with American M4A2 Sherman Lend-Lease tanks. The Corps had been re-designated the 1st Guards Mechanised Division by March 1946 and served in the Transcaucasian Military District before being reorganised as 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division in 1957 and then 100th Guards MRD in 1965. At some point afterwards, probably in the late 1980s, it was renamed 171st Guards District Training Centre. It was based in Tblisi throughout the postwar period. After the fall of the Soviet Union, it was redesignated as the 137th Military Base, and finally withdrawn and disbanded in the 1990s. Combat History 1942 * Operation Saturn 1943 * Battle of Kharkov (1943) * Battle of Kursk * Operation Polkovodets Rumyantsev * Battle of the lower Dnepr 1944 * None 1945 * Battle of Budapest * Vienna Offensive Assignment 1942 * Southwestern Front ** 3rd Guards Army 1943 * Southwestern Front 1944 * STAVKA Reserve, later part of the Kharkov Military District 1945 * 3rd Ukrainian Front Bibliography * Bonn, K.E. 'Slaughterhouse - The Handbook of the Eastern Front', Aberjona Press * Erickson, J. 'The Road to Stalingrad' * Glantz, D. 'From the Don to the Dnepr' External links * Red Army Studies * Battlefield.ru * Eastern Front.co.uk * Lost Battalion Games Article G001 Category:Military units and formations established in 1942 Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1946